The Night Light
by Angel The Barian
Summary: It was one of Shark's greatest secrets.


**The Night Light**

**It was one of Shark's greatest secrets. **

Night had fallen in the city the sky was clear, the streets were quiet it felt as if nothing would go wrong. Closing in on one of the theaters a crowd of people were exiting for the night and a few of them were quite familiar. Vector was out front with his loud mouth followed by Shark, Alito and behind them was the quiet Dumon. They had all gone to see an R rated scary movie which was probably Vector's doing sneaking them all in somehow. Why would anyone go along with one of Vector's genius plans that could end up badly anyway? Probably because a few of them really wanted to see this movie even at the risk of being kicked out. Dumon was the only one not that interested in the movie he just went along to make sure the others came back home in one piece.

"That was great! That huge monster and all the blood!" Vector was carrying on.

"Would you quiet down?" Shark said sticking his hands in his pockets.

"You weren't scared were you?" Vector turned to Shark and asked with a grin.

Shark hesitated a moment. "Of course not!" He pushed past Vector.

"He hesitated. I think Shark might have been scared." Alito teased.

"Come to think of it I thought I felt someone holding my hand during those really terrifying parts." Vector said looking thoughtful.

"You've got to be kidding yourself, Vector." Shark said.

"Don't worry nothing _bad_ is going to happen." Vector said putting his arm around Shark.

"Get off of me." Shark shrugged Vector's arm off.

"Maybe you should go ahead to make sure everything is clear." Alito suggested.

"Good idea."

Vector ran on ahead leaving the others behind. Shark sighed it was nice to have a few minutes without Vector annoying him constantly. It was just a movie after all none of those monsters were real, that blood wasn't real and there are no such things as monsters anyway. Everything was going to be okay they just needed to get home and go to bed.

Shark wasn't able to get much further with his thoughts when they all heard Vector scream not a few blocks ahead of them. Naturally everyone went running to find out what happened to the most reckless member of their group.

"I think it came from down that way." Dumon pointed out.

"You're the leader you go!" Alito hid behind Shark.

Now Shark's heart really was pounding. It was bad enough they were having to walk home at night but now Vector disappeared into an even darker alley way and Shark was voted to go look for him. Taking a deep breath Shark stepped forward all he could see was the light of a street lamp reflecting on some boxes and darkness a lot of darkness one thing Shark feared most.

"RAWR!" Vector jumped out of the dark of the alley.

Shark screamed terrified and stumbled backwards. Good thing Alito had been close enough to catch the purple haired boy before he fell and hit the street. Shark clutched his chest hoping to keep his heart from jumping out then he glared up at Vector.

"VECTOR…"

"You should have seen the look on your face! I wish I had a camera that was absolutely priceless!" Vector laughed like mad.

"Can we just get going?" Dumon asked placing a hand to his head. "Before Vector gives the rest of us a heart attack."

One would suspect that Dumon had been put in charge of getting them home on purpose and that was probably true. No one was about to question his orders right now because the main focus of the night seemed to be on Shark.

It all went downhill from here.

"Let's get some pizzas!" Vector announced.

"There aren't any pizza places on the way home." Dumon said.

"Then I'll just have to take a detour won't I?" Vector snapped.

No one liked it when Vector gave a look like he just did. It was like a wild animal that must have his way or he'll bite anyone that comes too close or in Vector's case he might bite someone anyway he was insane enough to. Furthermore wasn't Shark like the leader because it was his girlfriend that invited them all to live in her mansion.

Dumon wasn't about to argue with Vector and put his hands up to signify that.

"Go get your pizza Vector. We'll go on ahead but make sure you get home by midnight." Dumon said.

"She'll never know I'm gone. She's probably asleep." Vector was referring to the owner of the mansion who kindly invited them to stay.

"Angel has ways of knowing. She's smarter than you give her credit for." Dumon noted.

"And yet she's the girlfriend to this guy?" Vector motioned to Shark. "She doesn't even know-"

Vector was cut off. "Don't say anything."

With a huff Vector took his detour to find the nearest place to get a pizza this late at night. Not that he really needed anything else to keep him awake and bother everyone else though it was clear Vector was too wired from the movie and his prank to sleep now.

Thankfully everyone made it back to the mansion without anything else going wrong or having someone killed over a prank and it was still a few minutes before midnight. Strange how the Barians had a curfew even though the Barian Empress was almost always asleep by this time and wouldn't know if one of them came in late or not and somehow she always knew. The suspected it was due to security cameras.

"Finally, I'm going to bed." Shark took the first few steps up the stairs leading to their rooms.

"Don't forget to turn on your night light!" Vector chimed in with a hot slice of pizza in one hand.

Shark froze and that sense of someone knowing his secret filled his eyes with fear.

"Wait… don't tell me you actually sleep with a night light?" Vector was surprised then he grinned.

Before Shark could say a word Vector abandoned his pizza and went racing up the stairs, which was another rule. No running on the stairs someone will get hurt.

"Stay out of my room!" Shark went after him.

But it was too late Vector was quick to dash right into Shark's room and grab the night light from Shark's bedside.

"I don't believe it! Our great and noble leader sleeps with a night light!" He had a victorious smile on his face as he hurried back down the stairs all the while Shark was after him.

"Vector! Give that back!" Shark yelled gritting his teeth and grabbing onto the back of Vector's shirt.

In doing so this caused Vector to lose his footing and fall. The night light that had been in Vector's hands slipped out of the Barian's grip and bounced down the stairs landing on the front entranceway floor with a crash. Everyone stood still. Shark was horrified hearing the sound of the bulb shattering on the floor.

"No…"

While frozen in place so many thoughts ran through Shark's mind. 'What will I do now?' 'I don't have a spare bulb.' 'I'll never be able to get to sleep now.' 'I can't ask Angel for a replacement.'

"I had no part in this. Goodnight!" Alito made himself scarce.

"I don't believe this." Dumon started.

"Yeah my butt totally hurts now." Vector said.

Dumon sighed. "Not that. This mess! You need to clean it up all of it." That included the pizza Vector abandoned minutes earlier was now stuck to the floor cheese side down.

"You're not the boss of me." Vector stuck his tongue out. Then he could feel the tightening of his collar around his neck.

"No, but there are two Barians who are and I'm sure either one of them will say the same thing or worse if your behavior tonight has woken the Empress up." Dumon had a good point.

"Alright Shark prove how brave you are and sleep without your night light." Vector looked back at him.

Of course Shark couldn't sleep without the night light he was afraid of the dark and coming back from a scary movie which he shouldn't have been watching in the first place made things that much more difficult. But the worst thing of all was knowing his secret was out. Shark would never tell anyone about this not even his girlfriend and if it came down to some life or death situation where he had to reveal a deep secret this is not the way he would have chosen to do it.

With a sigh of defeat Shark retreated back up the stairs there was nothing he could do about this. Well there were things he could have done but being the tough guy that he is Shark refused to act on either option of asking Angel for a replacement or just staying with her because Shark knew Angel had a night light on either side of her bed. Unlike him, Angel wasn't afraid of the dark. She had the night lights so if she had to get up for anything during the night she'd be able to see where she was going and not trip over anything. But only Shark knew that because Angel would tell him things she'd never speak of to anyone else.

Finally Shark got under the covers of his bed thinking that this had to have been one of the longest nights of his life. All Shark could do now was lie awake in his dark room with only small traces of moonlight shining through the windows.

"How long will it be before Vector pulls another stunt?" He wondered.

Vector was downstairs cleaning up the mess he had made. Other than that the rest of the mansion was quiet.

"I can do this. I can get to sleep without my night light it's only a few more hours until dawn."

Shark turned his head to see the time. It was 12:30am and still pitch black the sun wouldn't rise for another five and a half hours.

"Why do I have to live with these morons…" Shark continued to think.

He closed his eyes trying not to think about that right now or he'd never get to sleep. Shark sighed deeply trying to calm himself and when at last he started to drift off to sleep the loud roaring of thunder woke him back up.

"What was that?" Shark couldn't see anything until a flash of lightning lit up the sky. "It was just clear…"

And now there was a storm brewing in the night sky. Lightning flashed followed by waves of thunder and soon it started pouring rain. The storm broke through the silence of Shark's room acting as one more thing to keep him from sleeping.

"It's not that bad at least I have some light." Shark tried lying to himself.

The temporary flashes of light produced shadows on the wall that seemed to move. At first this didn't bother Shark he knew the shadows were only things he already had in his room. But sleep deprivation and a bit of an overactive imagination can get the best of a person and these shadows were starting to look more like monsters moving closer and closer.

"I won't focus on that. They aren't real." Shark was starting to feel anxious.

He looked the other way blaming this anxiety on the scary movie and lack of sleep. Shark knew he'd never get to sleep now so the best thing to do was stay still in his bed and wait for morning to come. That almost sounded like a plan worth doing the side effect being tired tomorrow but Shark would shrug it off and keep going. This wouldn't be the first time he's gone without sleep and it certainly wouldn't be the last.

Shark lay still and breathed softly under his covers until a new movement caught his attention. In the light provided by the lightning he could see the door to his closet slowly open on its own.

"THAT'S IT! I CAN'T TAKE THIS ANYMORE!" Shark sat up in his bed, face in his hands and shivering afraid something was going to get him for sure whether it be Barian or monster.

A few minutes later the door to Shark's room slowly opened revealing the light from the hallway and a dark figure standing there. Shark glanced up at the figure thinking it must have been Vector going to prank him or tease him for being so scared.

"What's wrong Shark?"

This was not Vector's voice at all it was a female voice. Apparently Shark's fit woke his girlfriend up who's room happened to be next to his. The Barian Empress did like to be close to her chosen Emperor.

Shark had to quickly come up with a response without having to tell the truth of what's happened tonight and even though by morning everyone would know his secret Shark knew he had one chance to spend the next few hours with some dignity.

"The storm woke me that's all." He lied and was not proud of it.

"Is there anything I can do for you?" Her smile being heard in the way she asked.

This was Shark's chance to do something about being alone in a dark room while it continued to pour outside. He slid off the side of the bed then walked closer to the female in his doorway.

"Well… no point in us both being alone with a raging storm out there." Shark coaxed.

The Empress blushed lightly. "Shark it's really late and I want to get some sleep."

"I only want to cuddle don't you think we deserve that?" Shark asked nuzzling his cheek delicately against Angel's.

That was reason enough to allow Shark into her room at one in the morning. When it came to sweet talk the Barian Empress, Angel was a real push over. She turned away from Shark and gave him a reassuring gesture with her hand to follow which he quickly did.

The warm glow of the night lights in the next room were comforting to him. Shark got into bed with his Empress wrapping a protective arm around her. Angel snuggled close to her Emperor resting her head on his shoulder and going back to sleep. Shark had no trouble at all sleep found him quickly so for the next few hours to follow nothing else bothered him. No darkness, not the thunder and lightning not even Vector and his reckless ideas. For the moment everything was right in their world.


End file.
